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View Full Version : Slate.com slams libertarian Peter Thiel (Paypal founder)




Cowlesy
10-20-2010, 10:37 AM
http://www.slate.com/id/2271265/



Turn on, Start Up, Drop Out

Hyper-libertarian Facebook billionaire Peter Thiel's appalling plan to pay students to quit college.

By Jacob Weisberg
Updated Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010, at 7:49 AM ET


If you've seen The Social Network, you may have caught a passing glimpse of Peter Thiel. Thiel was the first outside investor in Facebook, putting up $500,000 to finance the site's original expansion in 2004. In the film's version of events, he connives with Sean Parker, the founder of Napster, to deprive Mark Zuckerberg's friend Eduardo Saverin of his 30 percent stake in the company. Though the character based on Thiel appears on-screen only briefly, Aaron Sorkin's screenplay demolishes the German-born venture-capitalist in a single line: "We're in the offices of a guy whose hero is Gordon Gekko."

.......

It should be noted that Thiel has also supported some genuinely good and useful causes, like the Committee to Protect Journalists. But Thiel's latest crusade is his worst yet, and more troubling than the possibility of an unfrozen caveman venture capitalist awaking in the 22nd century and demanding his space capsule. The Thiel Fellowship will pay would-be entrepreneurs under 20 $100,000 in cash to drop out of school. In announcing the program, Thiel made clear his contempt for American universities which, like governments, he believes, cost more than they're worth and hinder what really matters in life, namely starting tech companies. His scholarships are meant as an escape hatch from these insufficiently capitalist institutions of higher learning.

Ton more, and context, can be found at the link here. (thehttp://www.slate.com/id/2271265/)

Jordan
10-20-2010, 10:42 AM
Wait, what, $100,000 to drop out of school?

Cowlesy
10-20-2010, 10:58 AM
Wait, what, $100,000 to drop out of school?

Yep.

Wesker1982
10-20-2010, 11:35 AM
Where was this when I was under 20!?:(

erowe1
10-20-2010, 11:52 AM
Thiel's a Ron Paul supporter too.

torchbearer
10-20-2010, 11:57 AM
$100,000 is a good start up cash.

Bill Gates and Michael Dell both dropped out their first year of college.

Brooklyn Red Leg
10-20-2010, 12:49 PM
Where was this when I was under 20!?:(

Yea, no shit. All I got from my college degree was debt I couldn't pay back and the same shitty job prospects as people with no education. That's why I got my Class D Security License cause at least there is SOME work in that industry.

Indy Vidual
10-20-2010, 12:52 PM
Wow, wish I was qualified! :)

ClayTrainor
10-20-2010, 12:52 PM
The guys a hero as far as I'm concerned.

Matt Collins
10-20-2010, 01:54 PM
He has maxed out to both Ron and Rand's campaigns. I actually held one of the checks in my hand, it was a thrilling experience.

angelatc
10-20-2010, 01:56 PM
He has maxed out to both Ron and Rand's campaigns. I actually held one of the checks in my hand, it was a thrilling experience.

Why?

Matt Collins
10-20-2010, 02:05 PM
Why?
Holding a check written from one hero to another hero of mine (Rand). This guy founded PayPal as an alternate to government currency and is a billionaire because of it.

erowe1
10-20-2010, 02:31 PM
Holding a check written from one hero to another hero of mine (Rand). This guy founded PayPal as an alternate to government currency and is a billionaire because of it.

How is Paypal an alternative to government currency? Every time I've used it was to exchange dollars. Does it also let you make transfers in gold and silver or something?

RileyE104
10-20-2010, 02:32 PM
Wait... This guy, a libertarian, helped fund Facebook, yet they still had the nerve to prevent anti-prohibition of marijana ads from staying up? WTF is up with that...

Humanae Libertas
10-20-2010, 02:43 PM
$100,000 is a good start up cash.

Bill Gates and Michael Dell both dropped out their first year of college.

That's because Gates and Dell are smart. The smart will always have ways to stay employed and produce wealth. The dumb will usually end up poor and have trouble finding employment.

Also can't forget Gates had something going for him before dropping out, so dropping out of school doesn't automatically start paving a road for success just because Bill & other millionaires dropped out.

Matt Collins
10-20-2010, 02:44 PM
How is Paypal an alternative to government currency? The ability to xfer funds across borders.

amy31416
10-20-2010, 02:46 PM
Holding a check written from one hero to another hero of mine (Rand). This guy founded PayPal as an alternate to government currency and is a billionaire because of it.

No...why did you have the check?

(At least that's my interpretation of Angela's "why.")

low preference guy
10-20-2010, 02:49 PM
No...why did you have the check?

(At least that's my interpretation of Angela's "why.")

Now you've encouraged the Collins to share one of his stories. Great.

Cowlesy
10-20-2010, 02:51 PM
Wait... This guy, a libertarian, helped fund Facebook, yet they still had the nerve to prevent anti-prohibition of marijana ads from staying up? WTF is up with that...

Right, he helped fund Facebook a few years ago. Operations decisions are not his call, especially ones occurring in 2009-2010.

EndDaFed
10-20-2010, 02:53 PM
Does PayPal not relinquish funds to the Feds? If not than how could it be claimed that they are subverting government's power over money transactions? It would be nice if they could prevent forfeiture.

Uriel999
10-20-2010, 02:57 PM
If he is a libertarian why is Pay-pal anti gun? The fuck? Good on him on this issue though.

Matt Collins
10-20-2010, 03:06 PM
No...why did you have the check?

(At least that's my interpretation of Angela's "why.")
I was volunteering in the office one day and was opening the day's mail and found that in the pile.

Endgame
10-20-2010, 03:06 PM
If he is a libertarian why is Pay-pal anti gun? The fuck? Good on him on this issue though.

That happened after he sold PayPal to eBay. He hasn't been involved in the management of PayPal for a very long time. The lofty plans he had for PayPal overthrowing the world's governments didn't exactly pan out, but it still made him a billionaire.

This article is a riot. Libtards don't know the first thing about economics. This guy has been a hero of mine for awhile and it didn't tell me anything I didn't know.

I highly recommend getting his book The Diversity Myth (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0945999763/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0945999429&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0Q0XHHA09MP5RMS9FJ7A) from the library. Its about his experience with the left-wing "multicultural" monoculture of Stanford in the early 90's. It documents the rise of a puritanical religion of political correctness, complete with witch hunts, that has taken over our universities. He wrote this book several years before he founded PayPal.

I'm very glad that we've got a billionaire visionary on our side.

Matt Collins
10-20-2010, 03:07 PM
If he is a libertarian why is Pay-pal anti gun? The fuck? Good on him on this issue though.I don't believe he still owns it or has a controlling interest- in other words I think he sold it off to eBay a while back.


See the following:
http://www.wired.com/magazine/tag/peter-thiel/
http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2008/05/seasteading

amy31416
10-20-2010, 03:08 PM
Now you've encouraged the Collins to share one of his stories. Great.

I'm easily amused, what can I say?

Plus, I like hearing the stories and trying to figure out how much of it is fantasy vs. reality. :)

amy31416
10-20-2010, 03:09 PM
I was volunteering in the office one day and was opening the day's mail and found that in the pile.

Oh man...that's not nearly as elaborate or entertaining as your usual explanations.

Boooooo!

angelatc
10-20-2010, 03:13 PM
Holding a check written from one hero to another hero of mine (Rand). This guy founded PayPal as an alternate to government currency and is a billionaire because of it.

I know who he is, and what he did, and even who he sold the company to. (It wasn't eBay - he sold to Elon Musk at X.com. Musk is the guy who is now making the Tesla.)

What I don't understand is why holding a check that isn't made out to you, and really doesn't have anything at all to do with you, is thrilling.

Endgame
10-20-2010, 03:16 PM
I know who he is, and what he did, and even who he sold the company to. (It wasn't eBay - he sold to Elon Musk at X.com. Musk is the guy who is now making the Tesla.)

What I don't understand is why holding a check that isn't made out to you, and really doesn't have anything at all to do with you, is thrilling.

Is anything thrilling to you?

Peace&Freedom
10-20-2010, 03:22 PM
Paypal and other online processors are one reason the government created a new set of laws with the financial reform package of this spring. The bank gestapo realized they didn't have regulatory control over these online payment systems, so they pulled a few strings, and some Congress puppets complied.

angelatc
10-20-2010, 03:24 PM
Is anything thrilling to you?

Yes.

Matt Collins
10-20-2010, 03:28 PM
What I don't understand is why holding a check that isn't made out to you, and really doesn't have anything at all to do with you, is thrilling.It's exciting to know firsthand that a billionaire has just donated to your cause :)

low preference guy
10-20-2010, 03:30 PM
I know who he is, and what he did, and even who he sold the company to. (It wasn't eBay - he sold to Elon Musk at X.com. Musk is the guy who is now making the Tesla.)

What I don't understand is why holding a check that isn't made out to you, and really doesn't have anything at all to do with you, is thrilling.

damn!

torchbearer
10-20-2010, 04:09 PM
That's because Gates and Dell are smart. The smart will always have ways to stay employed and produce wealth. The dumb will usually end up poor and have trouble finding employment.

Also can't forget Gates had something going for him before dropping out, so dropping out of school doesn't automatically start paving a road for success just because Bill & other millionaires dropped out.

going to college to get a good job is a fallacy. that is the point.

Austrian Econ Disciple
10-20-2010, 05:15 PM
Peter Thiel is the man. We need more Voluntaryist Billionaires :p

silentshout
10-20-2010, 05:36 PM
This guy is awesome. Thanks for the link. I like that seasteading site, also. When my husband tells me I should look into Somalia (lol, he is kidding of course,..), I usually tell him I'd prefer an island somewhere :) Not sure I could live on a floating building, though. I like nature.